It may be hard to imagine now, but Vincent Ho says he was initially reluctant to take the life-altering trip that would ultimately inspire his Juno-nominated composition, Arctic Symphony.

In 2008, he was asked by prominent environmental scientist David Barber of the University of Manitoba to visit the Arctic as part of a unique “artist on board” program, which the scientist hoped would provide some artistic material to coincide with a 2009 world climate-change conference in Copenhagen. At best, Ho was cynical about the idea in general. Having just started his tenure as the composer-in-residence for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the now Calgary-based musician also thought he was far too busy to go floating about the Arctic.

“Admittedly, at the time, I was one of those ivory-tower types that as so engrossed in my own little world,” says Ho. “Also, my knowledge of the Arctic was limited to what I was exposed to through media as I was growing up. So when I was told to stop everything and go to the Arctic, I thought ‘I’ve got so much work on my plate. What in the Arctic? It’s going to be freezing . . . ‘”

Luckily, he was convinced by Barber and others that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So in the summer of 2008, Ho joined other artists of various stripes on an Arctic research vessel named the CCGS Amundsen to soak up the inspiration that would eventually lead to his five-movement Arctic Symphony, which netted Ho his second Juno nomination in as many years for best classical composition.

Unsurprisingly, the landscape itself proved inspirational for Ho, who would soak it all in with a notebook in hand. The piece includes actual recordings of environmental sounds of the Arctic — the wind and the ocean, for instance — provided by Ho’s colleague, classical composer Derek Charke. Ho also attempted to translate what he saw, heard and felt into musical form. Fluttering woodwinds and violins invoked wind in the fourth movement, Nightfall. In the third movement, Aboard the Amundsen, the composer uses the orchestra to emulate various sounds from the ship, such as the rhythms and industrial clang of the engine room.

But the piece is also bookended by the Nunavut Sivuniksavuk Performers, who start and finish the symphony with folk songs that reflect Inuit culture and its relationship to the Arctic in general.

Artists who were on board the Amundsen were not only meant to be inspired by the Arctic itself, but also through meetings with both international scientists and the elders from the Indigenous communities that have been shaped by the Arctic for thousands of years.

“In a nutshell, (Barber) wanted us artists of various disciplines to take in everything we could from the scientists and the elders and being the Arctic itself and seize that emotional content and experience and connect that to the audience in a way that spoke directly to their human heart,” says Ho. “For example, it’s one thing to give facts and numbers about the temperature rising and falling and things like that, but it’s completely different when you actually meet with the Inuit people and see just how the change in the environment is impacting their history, their cultural identity and their rhythm of life. It leaves an emotional response in you that you can’t shake away. There’s a level of humanity behind those numbers now.”

The piece takes up half of the album Shaman & Arctic Symphony, which was recorded with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. The album netted a Juno nomination in 2018 for best classical album, while Shaman — which featured Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie — earned Ho his first nomination for best classical composition.

Born in Ottawa, Ho moved to Calgary at the age of five. He eventually studied music at the University of Calgary, received his Master of Music from the University of Toronto and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Southern California. After his stint with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, he moved back to Calgary. He is currently artistic director of the Juno-nominated Land’s End Ensemble and is musical advisor for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra.

The CPO performed the final movement of the Arctic Symphony during its 2017 True North Festival, while the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra has performed the entire piece twice.

“It’s just very hard to program a modern Canadian work, it’s even harder if it’s more than 15-minutes long,” says Ho with a laugh about his near 40-minute symphony. “That’s just the nature. For that kind of real-estate, it’s usually given to the main names like Beethoven or Shostakovich or Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninoff. Those are the works that orchestras will devote time to programming before a symphony by a Canadian composer. I would like to see it more programmed more often and this Juno nomination may help.”

The Juno Awards will be held Saturday and Sunday in London, Ont. The best classical composition category will be awarded on Saturday.